Community Voices: Exercise common sense with home, yard workers

Spring is finally here. Time to look around the house and line up those repair and maintenance projects that seem to present themselves after every winter. We all look forward to getting out and getting the home and yard in shape for a summer of outdoor activity and fun.

Spring is finally here. Time to look around the house and line up those repair and maintenance projects that seem to present themselves after every winter. We all look forward to getting out and getting the home and yard in shape for a summer of outdoor activity and fun.

Some jobs are too large or complex for the average homeowner, and some homeowners just prefer to hire specialized help for construction, maintenance or cleaning. It’s important to protect yourself, and use proper insurance, when hiring third parties to work on your home or property. By now, most homeowners have heard the advice to ask for proof of insurance when hiring contractors to perform work. What constitutes “proof” though? What risk are we trying to insure when we ask for proof? Finally, do we need to ask every person who performs work at the home? The kid who cuts the grass? The lady who cleans the house?

The standard document used to provide proof of insurance is published by the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) and is known as the “ACORD25” form. This document is issued by the insurance company or agent and provides a summary of the insurance currently in force for the contractor. Homeowners should look to see that the contractor has commercial general liability coverage in force, with limits of insurance sufficient for the scope of work being performed. At a minimum, the limits should equal the limits the homeowner has on their own home insurance policy.

If there is any likelihood that the contractor will have any employees working with them, the ACORD25 should also indicate workers compensation coverage. This applies even if the employee is part-time, “casual” labor, or even just intends to show up one day and help out. State workers compensation statutes are very broad, and home insurance policies contain specific exclusions with regards to injured employees. For this reason homeowners need to insist that workers compensation is in place for any contractor that uses any employees.

Situations arise where asking for insurance sometimes seems like overkill. When the neighbor’s son offers to cut your lawn as a summer job, should you really ask for an ACORD25? It always comes down to how well you tolerate risk, and how comfortable you are with the scope of work being performed. Home insurance policies exclude claims arising out of “business pursuits,” and case-law is mixed on whether this exclusion will apply to a teenager’s summer job mowing lawns. So, will the mowing be done with a manual reel mower, or a 12-horsepower lawn tractor? Do you have children playing in the yard when the lawn is being cut, or do you have a small private lot with few potential hazards?

Page 2 of 2 - Perhaps the best advice is to let common sense prevail, and take the time to carefully evaluate the risks involved with the project (and the contractor) at hand. As always, use sound judgment when hiring third parties to work on your property.

William Lapointe is president of the Lapointe Insurance Agency, with offices throughout Bristol County. Community Voices is a weekly column featuring experts and specialists from the community.